***Days passed, and the pressure on the children grew heavier—especially on Kamil, who found the mystery more and more unbearable. He began to suspect that what the old man, Broz, was hiding was far greater than what had been said.
Then came the fateful day... Broz disappeared.
Brunon, with a cold smirk, told them he had left for an urgent matter. He insisted with unsettling confidence that there was no need to worry about him. But the absence stretched on—and Brunon began to take over.
Gradually, he assumed the old man's place and crossed every line. He started controlling who could stay and who would be kicked out. The house turned into his kingdom. He expelled some of them and even exploited little Karina, only five years old, to buy his things and sometimes deliver his drugs.
His behavior became intolerable. The children agreed to file a missing person's report for Broz—and even considered leaving the house altogether if his absence persisted.
But time wasn't on their side... and the disaster struck.
That day, Jakub returned to the house, his hand bleeding after a fight with one of his own gang members. The house was unusually quiet. He searched a bit, then headed upstairs—and there, he saw the unbearable: Brunon assaulting Antoni.
Jakub screamed and lunged at him, hitting him on the head. But Brunon was stronger. Jakub tried to escape with Antoni, but Brunon grabbed him. Jakub shouted frantically: "Run, Antoni!" and Antoni fled, staggering.
A brutal fight broke out between the two until Brunon struck Jakub hard, sending him tumbling down the stairs. Thinking he was dead, Brunon ran after Antoni. But Jakub, despite his severe injuries, regained consciousness and went searching as well.
Meanwhile, Kamil was overcome with worry when he heard Jakub had been seen in a bad state. He sent Jozef to search for him, then followed. Finally, they found Jakub lying on the ground, barely breathing.
Kamil held him and asked who had done this. Jakub answered with one word: "Antoni."
Time froze. They realized something horrific had happened.
Jakub clung to Kamil, gasping for breath, insisting he find Antoni immediately. In a choked voice, he said, "That bastard will hurt him... don't leave the poor kid with him." Then, with shame, he told them what had happened.
The shock was too much to bear. Kamil stood, broken, tears pouring down his face. He asked Jozef to take Jakub to the hospital and rushed out to find Antoni.
He ran as if chasing his own soul. The old alleys seemed to recognize his footsteps, the wind howled between the buildings, and the sky darkened as if it wept with him. His heart pounded violently, his breath short. He searched the market, the abandoned bridge, asked strangers... but no sign.
At last, he climbed to the roof of the old building, where Antoni used to go when he was sad. But he wasn't there. It was as if the earth had swallowed him.
Two days later, the police recovered a body from the valley. It was Antoni's.
Kamil and Jozef collapsed. The tragedy didn't stop there. Jakub died in the hospital from his injuries. Amid the grief and confusion, they remembered Karina. They searched for her everywhere. They didn't find her—until they went down to the basement.
There, they found her unconscious—but still alive.
The tragedies kept coming, the victims falling one by one. Fearing the police and Brunon's return, they decided to leave. They set the house on fire, as if burning their past and all its painful memories.
But Kamil never forgot his goal: revenge.
He didn't want to drag Jozef and Karina into it, so he staged a fight with Jozef and kicked him out. But Jozef silently followed him. One evening, they sat on the roadside, distance between them, saying nothing.
As for Karina, every time she got close to Kamil, he pushed her away and treated her harshly. She felt guilty, because even though she was young, she had been involved in Antoni's fate. She shouldn't have left him, especially knowing how fragile and autistic he was. She believed that what happened to Antoni was just an accident.
But the truth was far worse.
Eventually, Kamil found out where Brunon was. He decided to take revenge. He grabbed a knife and snuck out at night. Jozef followed him silently.
Brunon was heavily drunk, so bringing him down was easy. Kamil knocked him over and beat him until he woke up. Brunon, trying to fight back, said, "Stop it, you little bastard!"
But Kamil didn't stop. He was about to stab him when Jozef's voice rang out: "No! Don't do it, please, brother!"
Kamil looked and saw Jozef holding Karina's hand, both staring at him in horror. "Don't stain your hands with this filth's blood," said Jozef.
Kamil, eyes filled with tears, replied: "I'm sorry, but I have to end this."
Jozef suddenly said: "Take this."
He pulled out a lighter.
Kamil understood what he had to do.
They poured alcohol over Brunon. The latter awoke in panic: "What are you doing? Please, I was just stupid... I didn't mean to hurt you!"
Kamil, voice trembling with rage, shouted: "Damn you. You killed us and everything alive inside us. You must die."
Brunon began begging, claiming what he did to Broz and Jakub was an accident, and that the assault on Antoni was because of the drugs.
Those words only deepened the children's pain. They realized they had lost even the man who had once taken them in—kind old Broz.
And in the end, Kamil lit the lighter. He threw it on him. Brunon burned alive.
It was a horrific death. But even more horrifying... the children watched him burn. And that image remained forever etched in Karina's memory.
Likewise, the memory of their separation—the memory of that final farewell—when the police caught them on the train.
Karina's screams, Jozef's terrified face, kamil's pleading eyes... everything happened so fast, as if time itself wanted to take revenge on them one last time.
kamil took the blame for Brunon's murder alone during the investigation, and they were separated.
That was the moment of farewell.
Karina clung to his coat, crying and shouting:
"Don't leave me, kamil, please!"
But the soldier's hand tore her away, as if ripping a heart out of a chest.
Jozef cried out his name, with eyes still waiting for a miracle.
And kamil? He stood still, as if his soul had shattered forever.
He said nothing... just looked at them one last time—a gaze that held love, pain, and apology all at once.
kamil was sent to juvenile detention, while Jozef and Karina were taken to an orphanage.
They were later separated, and since then, she hasn't heard anything about them.
***That night wasn't long for Karina alone, while Madame Magda was torn apart by pain, memories flooding her constantly as she sat by the window, silently breaking down.
Memories surged into her mind like a storm, bringing back a scene from the past.....
flashback
— "I'm sorry. My suspicion was right," the detective said in a low voice. "He didn't just disappear... he died. His body was found... buried in the old circus yard in the neighboring village."
He sighed slightly, then added:
— "He wasn't the only body. There were four. His was the only one intact, which is how we managed to identify him."
He paused, then continued:
— "I'm sorry, but the other bodies… weren't in good condition. Most of them weren't complete—some were just fragments. We'll need more time to determine the cause of death."
Magda gasped, as if the air had been snatched from her chest:
— "Are you joking? You're telling me you found remains? So… they were all killed?"
— "But the bodies aren't in good condition," the detective replied. "The ground was very damp. More testing is needed…"
Magda hadn't waited on the police. She had hired a private investigator when she lost hope in them. She spent a lot of money, even sold all the aid meant for the orphanage, and mortgaged her house as well. Yet, the investigator kept asking for more.
He had arranged to meet her during the celebration. He said he was close to opening a private case and asked for full discretion. He claimed the case would blow everything wide open and needed her help to identify the others—perhaps she had seen them before.
Magda suspected everyone. No one was exempt. The culprit could be one of the boys... or someone familiar.
She didn't suspect Mir—she came after the disappearance. But the detective told her that anyone could be guilty.
Then another blow from memory…
Her last argument with Jan… in the office.
***Jan wasn't just special… he was the closest to her heart.
He was the son she never bore.
Though she was his aunt, she had raised him since he was a child, after her sister gave birth to him from an illegitimate relationship and abandoned him. One night, she left him at Magda's house and vanished.
Magda—always the outcast of her family—took on the shame alone.
They always said she wasn't beautiful, not attractive, and her mother despised her, just like her half-siblings did.
She had become independent at a young age, living far from them. When she found out her sister was pregnant, she hid her. But after giving birth, her sister denied the child... and denied Magda too, and left.
...But Magda... cared for him as if he were her whole life... or more.